A podcast all about Japanese cartoons and comics as discussed by three self-proclaimed experts in the world of anime and manga! Plus anime news / reviews, coverage of classic anime, hentai / yaoi, and much, much more. Updated every week. We hope.

Anime World Order Show # 129 – Even Robot Unicorns Dance on Rainbows

In this episode we free our souls from the weight of gravity and gain true understanding of one another as you belong to me, I belong to you, we belong to Earth, and Daryl reviews the 7-part OAV series Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.

Introduction (0:00 – 19:06)
It takes us approximately 20 minutes to answer one email. It covered multiple topics, but unless we’re intentionally jumbling the topics into one mega-topic, it was about whether we remember the love of chemically imbalanced gay teenage boys and marmalade, some of whom may be pregnant, and how this all pertains to the mecha offerings of Shoji Kawamori, Ryousuke Takahashi, and Go Nagai. Or maybe that’s what we turned it into? These things happen. Regardless, the answer to all question is that New Getter Robo is finally on Hulu.

Review: Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (19:06 – 1:21:10)
Although Daryl still believes there is relatively little utility for anyone, anywhere, to review any portion of Mobile Suit Gundam–everyone already has their set thoughts on Gundam, so they don’t need anyone’s review to decide upon what they’re going to comment–he’s nevertheless decided to revisit the topic since episode 3 was a long time gone. Much has changed in anime fandom in the 8.5 years since that episode, but this probably isn’t one of them. But perhaps you really CAN change your destiny beyond the time after all? Just the possibility is enough, so with that in mind this review does not really contain much as far as plot or character specifics.

Not mentioned on the show but written down as a note: the key indicator that Gundam Unicorn comes from a good place is the fact that the enemy robot is named the “Sinanju” which is the name of the mystical martial art practiced by REMO WILLIAMS from the Destroyer books and REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS~!, soon to be rebooted by Shane Black.

There is no free streaming option for Gundam Unicorn. The least convoluted place to get a list of what Gundam titles are in fact legally streaming online with English translation of some sort isn’t Daisuki or (inexplicably) the Gundam.info website but Gundam.info’s Youtube channel. The reason for why things like Char’s Counterattack and “HD Remasters” of Gundam SEED/SEED Destiny are only uploaded in SD is the same reason for every goofball decision that gets made regarding Gundam releases outside of Japan. Note: as ZZ Gundam fans will attest, these streams will get taken down on short/zero notice.

The quality of G-Reco and Origin is unclear at this time, but let it be known that Gundam-san is the jam. WHY ISN’T THAT SIMULCASTING, HUH SUNRISE

The HD streaming rentals are a little more affordable, but Gundam Unicorn on Blu-Ray isn’t cheap or easy to come by. Amazon is basically your only real option for the 7 Blu-Rays. Compared to the rest the first episode is a little cheaper, but since the stocks are kept low (made on demand?) later episodes go out of stock resulting in outlandish listings like this one asking for $430 for a single Blu-Ray.

Right Stuf is your main source for the DVDs, though all 4 will run you about $90 (Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3, Vol 4). Sometimes they stock the Blu-Rays but the price won’t be any different than when Amazon has them in stock.

Closing (1:21:10 – 1:23:43)
Did we forget to record a proper closing? Eh, whatever. Next time, as threatened in Show 128, be grateful to democracy as Gerald will be reviewing the recently (once again) re-released Lupin the Third: The Mystery of Mamo. When that next time will be is to be determined, since now that Daryl’s pushing Blue Blazes on everyone, Honoo’s work ethic is spreading far and wide.

Related

32 Replies to “Anime World Order Show # 129 – Even Robot Unicorns Dance on Rainbows”

Great overview. You guys are a lot of fun to listen, a few inevitable differences of opinion aside. It’s really too bad Gerald and Clarissa didn’t get to finish Unicorn before this conversation took place though.

I believe this topic has briefly come up in a couple of other places before, perhaps even years ago, and I’ve always agreed about Gundam Unicorn being a very accessible introduction to Gundam for newcomers. There is certainly an issue concerning the density of details at various points, but rewatching those episodes should be enough to cover that. You might not get all the tiny little references, sure, but they’re not essential to understanding what’s actually going on.

I’m also on the same general wavelength as Daryl in terms of the thematically appropriate nature of Unicorn as the effective end of the classic Universal Century, by taking several of Tomino’s ideas and extending them to their possible conclusions. Regardless of the questionable politics of the original author of the novels, I think the man did his homework and really thought at length about how these concepts could be challenged or reinforced in order to create a new story.

Over time, I’ve grown to increasingly appreciate the analysis of themes in both anime and fiction beyond merely focusing on criticizing the real or imagined flaws in the physical plausibility of the events in a narrative sequence, to the extent that sometimes I feel the purely logical layer can be discarded or at least treated as subservient to an emotional or conceptual one (which is also related to the reasons why I tend to like some shows you fellows mostly don’t, but I can respect that).

That’s not to say you can’t ask valid questions, as a viewer, and if certain details bother you too much that’s usually going to make any proper thematic analysis difficult. But if the themes are interesting enough, there’s a lot I’m willing to forgive. In the case of Unicorn, with all the things it does right, that’s still true…so if I had any complaints they would deal with [things that happened in the last episode removed –Daryl]. But at the end of the day, I think that’s quite secondary or tertiary to the story that Unicorn was trying to tell and the meaning it was attempting to convey.

The BDs look wonderful, of course, yet I’d say the DVDs are still a good option for those on a limited budget, at two OVAs per volume (save for the last feature length entry). While you won’t get HD quality out of them, they’re not below average for the format and look nice when upscaled.

Gundam SEED Destiny having a following is mystifying, but honestly, the original Gundam SEED having a following was pretty mystifying, too. [Big ol’ paragraph of complaint assertions about the show we didn’t talk about deleted. ANN forums are THAT-A-WAY. –Daryl]

No offense, Gerald, but the end of Char’s Counterattack isn’t that ambiguous. [Big ol’ paragraph of subjective interpretation of unclear visuals/interactions also deleted, though it does illustrate Gerald’s point. /m/ is THAT-A-WAY. –Daryl]

Things were kind of black and white in the original Mobile Suit Gundam. Sure, there were some decent, honorable Zeon soldiers and jerkass Federation soldiers, but it was mostly FED GOOD, ZEON BAD. It’s Zeta Gundam that really complicated things, even if most of the Titans were mustache-twirlers, because you had the AEUG which was made up of both Federation soldiers and Zeon remnants, while another group of Zeon renmants came in and it was more like good guys vs bad guys vs OTHER bad guys, with some shades here and there. But the thing was that Zeon always kind of had a point, even if the means to obtain their goals were horrifying. If you’re looking for true good-vs-good, then you have to go to something like Legend of the Galactic Heroes, though that’s more like necessary-evil-vs-necessary-evil, and isn’t that just the way the world works anyway? I’m preaching to the choir here, though. You folks already know all this, you’ve seen everything I have.

I never really picked up a right-wing motif in the Gundam Unicorn story. Sure, it exposes pacifism as untenable in the face of so many past wrongs and bitterness, but it doesn’t have any kind of fascist leanings or deification of military force. A lot of people felt like the revelation of Laplace’s Box and its implications were incredibly undermined by the existence of later UC timeline entries, but to be fair [innocuous though these points are, noting these PARTICULAR specifics as being implications of the MacGuffin item in question inform what it is, so away this bit goes even though the cartoons are from 20+ years ago at this point –Daryl]

I only have five volumes of Gundam Unicorn on Blu-Ray (though I’ve seen it all, figure it out), and it’s unfortunate it’s so bleeding expensive. It’s probably the least accessible Gundam anime to come out in a decade (if not one of the least accessible anime PERIOD in a decade) because it’s for hardcore UC fans, it’s not streaming, and it’s insanely expensive (and only getting more expensive). It’s almost like they don’t want you to watch it. I’d love to complete my collection of this OVA, so maybe one day I’ll win the lottery.

I have to say, I think you have it wrong about anime fandom. While people may only be HARDCORE about anime for a few years, it doesn’t mean that they’ll stop watching it altogether, just more casually. It’s like saying people only watch sci-fi, or horror for a few years and then stop. Personally, I’ve been watching anime for about 22 years, since I was 6. I was REALLY hardcore from about 16-20, then became more casual, but I still watch things if I think they look interesting, like Attack on Titan. I think most people probably fall more into this category, rather than completely stopping.

Putting aside the fact that you’re not actually contradicting anything that we said, what measurable metrics do you base that assessment on? Can you cite any sources? It looks like the sole basis of your argument is your own personal experience, in which you went to clubs/conventions etc for a few years as a teenager and then stopped once you were no longer a teenager. In other words, the exact trajectory we stated.

Our statements are based on a combination of our direct observations over 15+ years of actually going to multiple cons/clubs etc every year along with testimonials from various industry folks as well as academics like Jonathan Clements, co-author of The Anime Encyclopedia and author of (most recently) Anime: A History, who has been observing and chronicling this stuff far longer than even we have.

I’m pretty confident that our assessment is valid, and that your objection is that your definition of “anime fan” is contextual to “someone who’s at some point liked a Japanese cartoon” when the context for the statement I was making was “someone invested enough in anime that they’ll spend a significant portion of their income on media and goods while engaging in some sort of fan interactions based on said media and goods.”

No, I was saying that the vast majority of people don’t completely stop watching something after a few years. If they did, I agree, I would not call them a fan. Also, I’m a huge Godzilla fan, but I’ve spent very little money on it, because to buy EVERYTHING would be too expensive, but I do HAVE all the Godzilla movies via piracy. By your definition, I would not be a Godzilla fan. I say I’m still a Godzilla fan, I’m just not “obsessed” anymore, which is what you seem to equate “being an anime fan” with. [That is correct. “Otaku” necessitates “obsession,” though I would imagine even being a “fan” of something entails liking something more than “eh sure, I’ll steal this.” That said, none of this was actually brought up in this particular episode. –Daryl]

It was clearly exactly what you implied, since you said that people are only fans for a few years and that fanhood requires monetary involvement or activity in a fan community. [Here’s the fundamental problem: you’re equating me saying “don’t pirate things you can otherwise reasonably get” with “you have to spend money” when, based on my above written comments and what was said in this recording, that was never said. You notice how my response repeatedly include variations on “you’re responding to arguments that were never made”? –Daryl]

The problem is you equate not buying things with not being a fan. Despite the fact that you claim you’re not saying this, you clearly are. It’s an insulting and fairly shallow assumption. If you were just saying that you don’t approve of piracy, I would understand. That’s not even the issue, the issue is that if you like something, you can reasonably claim to be a fan of it, regardless of whether or not you pay for it, think about it day and night, or just find it entertaining. And a lot of movies, tv shows etc., can’t be obtained easily or even legally, yet the people who pirate them are still fans.

Wow, the superiority complex even radiates through the computer. You just have to like something to be a fan, you just want to set up some sort of elitist “you’re not a real fan” bullshit, that people engage in with any media. This is especially ridiculous when talking about things like anime and Godzilla, since both are foreign, don’t always get released here and are expensive to own. Are you seriously telling me that just because I don’t OWN Attack on Titan, or ALL the Godzilla movies(I do own some), that I’m not a fan? [This was never said or implied. If your response to “this was never said or implied” is “you just wrote that above and said it on this show” then you aren’t reading or hearing this quite right. You are reading/hearing one thing as something else, and I’m not interested in refuting arguments I didn’t make. –Daryl]

Forget it, enjoy the ivory tower. I’ll keep listening to the show, but now I know how serious your warning about “holier than thou know it alls” really is. [I’m still waiting for you to give me those metrics/sources, by the way. –Daryl]

I got into anime in 2006, I was nine, I started listening to the podcast in seventh grade when I was twelve, so that was in 2010, and podcast started in 2005, when I was eight, not that I knew about it. I was born april 18, 1997. hahaha thanks for reading my email!
– Madison

By the way, I thought one of the canniest jokes in the show is where Honoo is forced to admit to the lady in the shop that he doesn’t actually know what Ideon is about, and (like everyone else) only knows it as Tomino’s other series besides Gundam.

I wanted to let Gerald know that he is WRONG about how no one watched Gasaraki. My co-host and I spent a little over a month watching the show, and our review of it will be coming out in about a month from now. I will say this, I never thought I would see something that can be compared to the same coma inducing caliber as Odin: Photon Space Sailor Starlight. My co-host believes the show is on the same level as Pilot Candidate, as for many years has used the latter as the low end measuring stick in anime.

I have been watching Unicorn each time it has been released, which has made my experience somewhat disoriented. If I had been like those die hard Gundam fans that re-watch the OVA’s up till the new release, it would have made more sense for me. Luckily, whenever our podcast did our reviews on each OVA, we had the help of our Gundam experts over at The Daily Anime Podcast, because they are those Gundam fans who re-watch Unicorn before the next one was released. This in turn made us (well mostly me) understand the overall story better to understand. I don’t have it in me like I did when I was a born again Gundam fan back in my freshman year of high school, who would re-watch the recorded airings of the Gundam OVA’s every week after school that aired on Toonami and Adult Swim in late 2001/early 2002.

By Daryl mentioning that Gundam Unicorn is the easiest way to get introduced to Gundam and not getting entirely lost in terms of order of events in the previous series, and without someone having to go back and re-watch shows and movies from 20 years ago in order for this OVA to make sense; then that is time saved. There are people that I know that did get into Gundam after watching the first OVA, so this might be this generation’s Marvel movies for Gundam.

I am like most people who got introduced to Gundam in the early 2000’s, by watching whatever came out in physical media, on TV, and then spending hours researching the events online in order to make sense of the overall narrative of that particular series or movie (i.e. Char’s Counterattack and F-91. Of course I could count G-Savior, but that isn’t something that is “really” mentioned these days.) It seems that for years the easier route to get into Gundam UC timeline is “…ok, here are these compilation movies…” which is followed by “…alright, so since you saw the movies, try these OVA’s out next…” which then might lead people to watching the TV series, if they were still interested after all the legwork they have put into it so far. That was a committed love people endured when getting into this series, which is people like me. What also helped me into knowing the order of events in a better light was the Mark Simmons “Gundam: The Official Guide” book that was a good physical source book sold in stores at the time, and this was months before Gundam Seed hit the air in Japan. I still have my copy to this day.

Now that I think about it, I do wanna try and get someone into Gundam through Unicorn and see if there is enough there to give the viewer a taste of what they need to know without getting too confused. The problem with movies like Char’s Counterattack, as you guys stated, was “hey, were making a reference to this person, you do remember them right?” In an ideal world, Bandai should have released Gundam in order way before they put Char’s Counterattack out in the States. I was that person why tried to defend the Char’s Counterattack ending from those who were solid on the conclusion of what happened to the main characters in the movie, which just made me look like an idiot half the time (nah actually, way more than that.)

Regarding Daryl belief that there is “little utility” to review all of Gundam, I am part of that group and has said something about every piece of Gundam property that has been released (well, that and the guys at GunDamn!) I do want to mention that this show is for the die-hard Gundam fans who would pick up on the MSV kits “coming to life” with even more weaponry attached to them.

[Two sections of this were removed because they were talking about what happens at the end of Gundam Unicorn. This makes me 3 for 3 so far this week with regards to proving my point that the first reaction of Gundam fans when the phrase “Gundam Unicorn” is uttered is to say what happens at the end. It was the same way 5 years ago. –Daryl]

Hey man I meant no disrespect or anything, I guess I wanted to see what would fly under the Surat Minovsky Radar. Well, I got my answer. I wasn’t surprised by the last thing you took out, since I did get my answer there.

Also, I wasn’t there 5 years ago to see what nerds on the internet were saying about Unicorn, just like how I have my head under a rock about the changes in Evangelion 3.33 that I vaguely forgot about over time. It’s because I want to buy a physical copy of that movie WHENEVER Funimation decides to release the damn thing.

An intense Twitter bullying campaign notwithstanding, I am here to post about Marmalade Boy. It goes on too long. It is largely inoffensive, with the pseudo-incest note initially playing a supporting role to the much more au courant (for the nineties and early aughts) “living with a mystery hot guy” note. That changes, but I was too irritated by the other taboo relationship to be too het up by it. For all that there are two extremely irritating subplots, the show never really enrages the viewer (me, I mean me). Anyway, I think Daryl is a poor judge of smarm. Then again, shoujo’s smarmiest love interests generally never make it to the screen.

Anyway, let me be the first to encourage adolescent girls to read the most extreme filth they can get their hands on. If nothing else, whenever you run into some oleaginous fan libertine, you won’t give him the satisfaction of grimacing in disgust when he explains the details of his last erotic D&D session. You can just look bored and sigh a lot.

In my last session with my Gundam fan student, we discussed what kind of experimentation he’d need to endure to become a Newtype.

Yeah, I really could have phrased that better. One of my students is Chinese and studying abroad in the United States. He is mystified that almost none of his classmates are familiar with Gundam. He also informed me that he knows more about Gundam history than U.S. history. His high school has an excellent English department and a deplorable history department.

I pretty much agree with everything you said regarding Unicorn. And yes, Gundam fans stay just about exactly the same, barring minor changes like the introduction of Destiny as a byword for general awfulness.

One thing I will disagree with you on is Tomino as a writer (not necessarily as a director, mind you). I’ve never checked out his Gundam novelization in the original or in translation, but I’ve been reading the nice reprints of his Wings of Rean novels that came out in Japan a couple years back, and while they aren’t stellar they are competently written fantasy with some pretty interesting and then-relevant themes running through them. I think at least part of Tomino’s reputation as an atrocious writer, particularly when it comes to dialogue, is due to poor or overly-literal translations of his work. He’s certainly not great and tends to be extremely melodramatic, but he isn’t quite as stilted and unnatural in Japanese as he is in English, and his writing is definitely made more confusing by at least one major line mangled by an inaccurate translation in every one of his works I’ve seen subbed or dubbed.

(You may wonder why so much of the Byston Well anime is terrible if the original novels aren’t. That’s a good question, and I think it’s partly due to the lack of the maps and tables that, in the novels, help put where people and places are and how they relate to each other in some kind of immediate context. Perhaps more importantly, though, the novels are much more explicitly tied to Japan’s involvement in World War II than any of the animated adaptations except maybe Wings of Rean and parts of them hinge on statements about the actions and culpability of the Japanese people that Tomino would never be allowed to make on film, a fact which robs most of the adaptations of their ideological and thematic center. Wings of Rean, of course, just tried to tell what really needed to be at least 13 episodes worth of story in six and wasn’t even particularly judicious with the time it did have.)

I agree with Gerald on starting VOTOMS with the original TV series. The 2010 OVA Case;Irvine is also a pretty good starting point. Not only is it new and shiny, but also gives a sample of the franchise’s world and themes without spoiling any of the other installments.

Unicorn’s a total blast, but I can’t recommend it to people with zero Gundam knowledge. I’m afraid the amount of history and made-up terms the show is built on is enough to scare new fans away for good.

I am not a Gundam fan. My only real experience with the franchise was watching SD Gundam when it was on Cartoon Network. I have been watching Unicorn every other week with friends, and I want to know: what should my next move be? Should I find the original Mobile Suit Gundam, or go to some other show like Wing or SEED?

I don’t know if there’s an “easy” answer to that, as it will be dependent on what you liked/disliked about Gundam Unicorn.

The answer you’ll be most likely to get from people, and it’s my knee-jerk reply too, is “the compilation movies for the original Mobile Suit Gundam” because it’s what so many anime productions, (and Blue Blazes!) reference to this day, either directly or indirectly. This is true not just for all of the subsequent “Universal Century” Gundam installments along with the various alternate-universe Gundam titles, but recent non-Gundam works like Aldnoah Zero.

But let’s face it: those movies take nearly 7.5 hours to watch since each one’s about 2.5 hours long, and what’s more they largely consist of roughly 35 year-old television animation. The various “alternate universe” shows are even longer: typically 50 episodes, such that a full 13 of those episodes exist purely as setup for the actual story to be told. Nowadays, entire series are 13 episodes! There’s a very good chance that these won’t be that well-received in a group viewing environment.

Perhaps the easiest “next move” to digest would be one of the shorter side story OAVs set in the Universal Century that doesn’t require much knowledge of the lore to “get.” With that, I’ve effectively narrowed it down to two. Gundam: The 08th MS Team is only 11 episodes long (there is a 12th episode and a compilation movie, but they’re best skipped due to being made by other people), and is mostly about combat in the jungle (and naked underage girl breasts by episode 2, since it IS an OAV after all). Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket is only 6 episodes, but is rather light on action and has a 10 year-old boy for a main character who well, acts like one. I remember trying to show the first episode at a club once and it didn’t go over well at all, but that crowd turned on it the second they saw a robot show up.

Oh man, how can you mention those OVAs and NOT mention the ex-Top Gun of the Gundam OVAs: Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory? [Uh, on purpose? It doesn’t meet either criteria: it is not short and it doesn’t make sense without past knowledge, since its entire reason for existence is to fill in continuity. You skipped straight past every single one of my CAREFULLY PICKED AND VERY SPECIFIC qualifiers for the sake of “you forgot to mention.” Why should I even bother? –Daryl]

But, semi-dumbass story and especially lamer love triangle aside, it is a really good looking Gundam OVA in terms of action, style and animation. You gotta give it at least that much. I still like it, I got no beef with 0083.

Woah, easy there man. I did see what you wrote and stated on 08th MS Team and 0080, which I do fully agree with. Even if 0083 is a sore attempt by some to tie in Mobile Suit Gundam and Zeta Gundam, it is still something short and pretty too look at. I don’t think its going to really hurt anyone who will see it as they are starting out in Gundam, especially if that leads them to Zeta Gundam. I’m not entirely saying that it’s “recommended material,” but it is still something for the viewer to check out at their own will.

Plus, I am just poking fun, because I have heard either from one of your episodes or somewhere else that you loath Gundam 0083 (if not that term than something more foul to use). Getting that kind of response to my question shouldn’t come to me as a surprise really.

I have been watching anime for only a year and I prefer the older art styles, such as Great Teacher Onizuka, than most of the modern 2000s. This anime season is probably the best I’ve seen over the past year with Tokyo Ghoul and Akame ga Kill, but I mainly focus on shoujo (yeah….I’m a guy also) such as Nana, the “reverse harem” Ouran High School Host Club, and some others. But what are your guy’s (and ladies) favorite genres, and what would you recommend for me since I like shoujo?

May I ask what bits and pieces of Urobuchi’s writing that brought out Gerald and Daryl’s “dislike” hammer?

Well, I am asking not because I want to roleplay as another Urobuchi supporter (I am not)…but rather, I found it odd that Gerald and Daryl are both showing mild dislike of…to me at least…the most anti-MOE writer I can recall in recent years. Part of Urobuchi’s style (next to being preachy and rather fond of borrowing heavily on preexisting literature e.g., Faust…the guy certainly wears the label “unoriginal” with pride) is to use characters as expendable chess pieces to advance plot. A rather stark contrast to the 100% character centric MOE formula if you ask me. I certainly enjoyed AWO podcasts and I used to operate under the assumption that Gerald L-O-V-E-S 80s-90s series with some decent plot development, and Daryl’s insistence that he would rather have something “got good at the end” tricked me to believe that he rather likes series with a somewhat decent ending (and hopefully with “things blow up good”). As I recall, many Urobuchi’s works, assuming he is the only writer, did provide a somewhat conclusive ending…which is something I cannot say for 99% of all TV programs available…animated or not. I was expecting Gerald and Daryl to show indifference to his works (magical girls is no Oscar material)…mild dislike? Hmm…interesting. [And by all this you mean “Gerald” since I’m the one who stuck up for Psycho-Pass etc whereas Gerald’s the one who said he’s never liked anything by the guy? I’m not a fan of defending positions I never espoused. –Daryl]

A side note, I am willing to pay real money reading Clarissa’s (aka the smart one) post show notes making fun of the guys.

That, is a joke.

Just another Internet stranger / ex-Gundam freak who has enough sense to shut the fuck up about all things Gundam.

Most likely your “half and half” and “BS in PP” comments caused me to think as such. PP certainly has its share of BS.

Anyway, I am not attacking so no need to defend. And no…I am not trying to get you two into trouble with certain fan base. However, you guys have been very vocal about stuff you don’t like and why (e.g., moe is bad not because of panties…but because of limited variety). Not so certain about Urobuchi’s work. In fact…I do recall you i.e. Daryl mentioned Precure when asked about Dokes. Not something I would have expected.

Pretty good podcast. It’s nice to hear other people stand up against the wave of Urobuchi wank among anime fans, especially when he seems to be coasting on goodwill earned by one fluke. But I think that “when you know the trick, you don’t care” effect applies to a lot of media, including Gundam and Urobuchi’s post-Madoka work. In their case, it’s “use action/adventure and heavy handed themes/messages to distract people from the fact that the story only works because EVERYONE in the story/setting is incredibly stupid.” Unicorn is a really good example of this, because you’d think that everyone in the UC timeline would tell anyone or anything associated with Zeon to fuck off after over a decade of Zeon-affiliates causing every single problem in the UC timeline and the Federation would crush Anaheim for aiding and abetting people who nearly ruined Earth’s biosphere. Psychopass had the same thing going on with the whole “Sybil is too stupid to have contingencies to capture a certain subset of criminals, like a manual override stun setting” and it got waved off by a lot of fans with the “it’s part of the dystopia theme” card. It gets really annoying and tiring after a while, to the point that you start rooting for almost all the characters to suffer, which is something most writers probably don’t want.